Over the short history of the Windows/Linux platforms in the UIUC grafiXlab (3 years) we have accumulated a fair number of very promising geometrical software packages. However, there has never been a proper evaluation of their suitability. This NSF-VIGRE sponsored REU project plans to do this in a systematic way.
The packages we will evaluate are not "general purpose," like the 3 Big Ms: Mathematica, Maple and Matlab. They are small, often free or very inexpensive, and they do a specific job. Some do depend on non-trivial substrate software, such as Java, DirectX, OpenGL.
This website chronicles the progress of the project. It will be frequently updated and changed. For a start we have collected the websites describing the projects. Additional information will be added as it becomes available.
We are currently evaluating the following programs for laboratory and classroom use:
Evolver
Geomview
illiView
Javaview
Meshview
SnagIt
Animagic
Imageforge